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Maggie Gyllenhaal's show feted at Royal Television Society Awards

By:
WENN.com
Mar 18, 2015

Maggie Gyllenhaal's political thriller The Honorable Woman landed a top prize at Britain's Royal Television Society Awards in London on Tuesday night (17Mar15). The actress' show was feted with the Drama Serial honour at the ceremony just days after scooping the Best Drama Series accolade at the U.K.'s Broadcasting Press Guild Television and Radio Awards.
Other stars to receive top prizes at the Royal Television Society Awards included Brits Tom Hollander and Sarah Lancashire, who took home the Best Actor and Best Actress trophies for A Poet In New York and Happy Valley respectively.
Winners also included Scottish funnyman Billy Connolly, who landed the Presenter award for Billy Connolly's Big Send Off, and adventurer Bear Grylls, whose show The Island With Bear Grylls triumphed in the Popular, Factual and Features category.

British actors Toby Jones and Sheridan Smith will compete for top trophies at the U.K.'s upcoming Royal Television Society Programme Awards next month (Mar15). The Hunger Games star is up for the best actor title for his role in TV movie Marvellous, going up against Tom Hollander for The Poet and Adeel Akhtar for Utopia, while Smith lands a nomination in the best actress category for her portrayal of 1960s singer Cilla Black in the TV series Cilla. She will compete against British actresses Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) and Georgina Campbell (Murdered By My Boyfriend).
Fargo, True Detective and The Big Bang Theory will go head-to-head for the International title while Chris O'Dowd's TV series Moone Boy, which he created, co-writes and stars in, is up for a Scripted Comedy prize.
Other nominees include funnyman Billy Connolly for the Presenter prize for his documentary Billy Connolly's Big Send Off, Maggie Gyllenhaal's series The Honourable Women for Drama Serial, while Peaky Blinders, starring Cillian Murphy, will compete for the Drama Series title against Happy Valley and Line of Duty.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on 17 March (15).

DreamWorks
For the bulk of every Rocky and Bullwinkle episode, moose and squirrel would engage in high concept escapades that satirized geopolitics, contemporary cinema, and the very fabrics of the human condition. With all of that to work with, there's no excuse for why the pair and their Soviet nemeses haven't gotten a decent movie adaptation. But the ingenious Mr. Peabody and his faithful boy Sherman are another story, intercut between Rocky and Bullwinkle segments to teach kids brief history lessons and toss in a nearly lethal dose of puns. Their stories and relationship were much simpler, which means that bringing their shtick to the big screen would entail a lot more invention — always risky when you're dealing with precious material.
For the most part, Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman handles the regeneration of its heroes aptly, allowing for emotionally substance in their unique father-son relationship and all the difficulties inherent therein. The story is no subtle metaphor for the difficulties surrounding gay adoption, with society decreeing that a dog, no matter how hyper-intelligent, cannot be a suitable father. The central plot has Peabody hosting a party for a disapproving child services agent and the parents of a young girl with whom 7-year-old Sherman had a schoolyard spat, all in order to prove himself a suitable dad. Of course, the WABAC comes into play when the tots take it for a spin, forcing Peabody to rush to their rescue.
Getting down to personals, we also see the left brain-heavy Peabody struggle with being father Sherman deserves. The bulk of the emotional marks are hit as we learn just how much Peabody cares for Sherman, and just how hard it has been to accept that his only family is growing up and changing.
DreamWorks
But more successful than the new is the film's handling of the old — the material that Peabody and Sherman purists will adore. They travel back in time via the WABAC Machine to Ancient Egypt, the Renaissance, and the Trojan War, and 18th Century France, explaining the cultural backdrop and historical significance of the settings and characters they happen upon, all with that irreverent (but no longer racist) flare that the old cartoons enjoyed. And oh... the puns.
Mr. Peabody &amp; Sherman is a f**king treasure trove of some of the most amazingly bad puns in recent cinema. This effort alone will leave you in awe.
The film does unravel in its final act, bringing the science-fiction of time travel a little too close to the forefront and dropping the ball on a good deal of its emotional groundwork. What seemed to be substantial building blocks do not pay off in the way we might, as scholars of animated family cinema, have anticipated, leaving the movie with an unfinished feeling.
But all in all, it's a bright, compassionate, reasonably educational, and occasionally funny if not altogether worthy tribute to an old favorite. And since we don't have our own WABAC machine to return to a time of regularly scheduled Peabody and Sherman cartoons, this will do okay for now.
If nothing else, it's worth your time for the puns.
3/5
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Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
There are only a few days left until the 2014 Academy Awards, so most of our predictions are solidified by now. But even though Cate Blanchett appears to be a lock for Best Actress and Alfonso Cuaron has the highest odds of winning Best Director, there's still one race that's impossible to guess: Best Supporting Actress. The two candidates who could snag the trophy are Lupita Nyong'o for her work in 12 Years a Slave and Jennifer Lawrence for her performance in American Hustle.
Normally, we could just rely on the previous awards shows to help influence our predictions. Blanchett and Cuaron have both swept their categories, as have Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto (who we think will take Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, respectively). But Lawrence and Nyong'o have split the opinions of the various awards organizations, which means the Oscar is still anyone's game. In an attempt to solve this problem once and for all and help you solidify your Oscar pool, we've taken a look back at all of the women who have won Best Supporting Actress in order to see if we could use the winners of yesteryear to determine who will walk home with the trophy on Oscar night.
Major Precursor Awards Won: 2 (for each)Lawrence won both the Golden Globe and the BAFTA for her role as Rosalyn Rosenfeld, while Nyong'o picked up the Critic's Choice Award and the Screen Actor's Guild Award for playing the slave girl Patsey.
Actresses 25 and Under Who Won Best Supporting Actress: 8If Lawrence, who at 23 is the youngest actress to earn 3 Oscar nominations, were to take home the award on Sunday, she would join a list of young winners that includes Tatum O’Neal, Patty Duke, Goldie Hawn, Anna Paquin, Jennifer Hudson, Angelina Jolie, Teresa Wright, and Anne Baxter.
Actresses Between 25 and 30 Who Won Best Supporting Actress: 13At 30, Nyong'o would be in good company as a Best Supporting Actress winner, as Shirley Jones, Mary Steenburgen, Marisa Tomei, Mira Sorvino, Miyoshi Umecki, Gloria Grahame, Kim Hunter, Sandy Dennis, Rita Moreno, Eva Marie Saint, Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Celeste Holm also took home an Oscar around the same age.
Best Supporting Actress Winners Who Won for Their First Performance: 9It's hard to believe that 12 Years a Slave is Nyong'o's first feature film, but she's not the only actress to impress the Academy with her debut perfomance: Katina Paxinou, Mercedes McCambridge, Eva Marie Saint, Jo Van Fleet, Tatum O’Neal, Goldie Hawn, Miyoshi Umecki, Anna Paquin, and Jennifer Hudson all stunned on their first try.
Actresses Who Won Best Supporting Actress After Winning Best Actress: 3 After winning for Silver Lining's Playbook at last year's awards, Lawrence would join an elite club of women who topped their Best Actress win with a Best Supporting Actress trophy. : Helen Hayes, who won Best Actress for her work in The Sin of Madelon Claudet in 1931 and Best Supporting Actress for Airport in 1970, Ingrid Bergman, who took home Best Actress for Gaslight in 1944 and Anastasia in 1956 then won Best Supporting Actress in 1974 for Murder on the Orient Express, and Maggie Smith, who was awarded Best Actress for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 1969 and followed it up with Best Supporting Actress for California Suite 1978.
Best Supporting Actress Winners Who Won on Their First Nomination: 51The Best Supporting Actress category has been particularly kind to newcomers, with 51 actresses who have taken home gold on their first nomination (a fact that bodes well for Nyong'o). If she wins, she would be added to the long list that includes Gale Sondergaard, Hattie McDaniel, Jane Darwell, Mary Astor, Katina Paxinou, Ethel Barrymore, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, Mercedes McCambridge, Josephine Hull, Kim Hunter, Donna Reed, Eva Marie Saint, Jo Van Fleet, Dorothy Malone, Miyoshi Umecki, Shirley Jones, Rita Moreno, Patty Duke, Margaret Rutherford, Lila Kedrova, Sandy Dennis, Estelle Parsons, Goldie Hawn, Cloris Leachmann, Tatum O’Neal, Beatrice Straight, Mary Steenburgen, Jessica Lange, Linda Hunt, Peggy Ashcroft, Anjelica Huston, Dianne Wiest, Olympia Dukakis, Geena Davis, Brenda Fricker, Mercedes Ruehl, Marisa Tomei, Anna Paquin, Mira Sorvino, Juliette Binoche, Kim Basinger, Angelina Jolie, Marcia Gay Harden, Jennifer Connolly, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rachel Weisz, Jennifer Hudson, Tilda Swinton, Mo’Nique, and Octavia Spencer.
Actresses Who Have Won Best Supporting Actress for a Comedic Role: 7Although the Academy tends to favor dramatic performances, the Supporting Actor and Actress categories often reward more comedic roles, like Lawrence's. If she wins, she would join the seven other women who laughed their way to an Oscar: Josephine Hull for Harvey, Goldie Hawn for Cactus Flower, Maggie Smith for California Suite, Olympia Dukakis for Moonstruck, Marisa Tomei for My Cousin Vinny, Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aphrodite, and Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Actresses Who Have Won Best Supporting Actress Winners For Playing Servants: 3Although Nyong'o would be the first Best Supporting Actress winner to win for portraying a slave, three women have previously won for playing servants: Gale Sondergaard, Hattie McDaniel, and Octavia Spencer.
Actresses Who Have Won Best Supporting Actress for Playing the Wife of the Lead: 7Before Rosalyn Rosenfeld came along to "inspire" her husband Iriving, there were countless other wives who played a key role in their husband's stories, and seven actresses won an Oscar for playing them: Mary Astor, Kim Hunter, Gloria Grahame, Jennifer Connolly, Rachel Weisz, Meryl Streep, and Mary Steenburgen.
Black Women Who Have Won Best Supporting Actress: 4If Nyong'o takes home the Oscar on Sunday, she will become only the fifth black woman to win Best Supporting Actress, and just the sixth black woman to win an acting Oscar overall. The previous Best Supporting Actress winners are Hattie McDaniel, Whoopi Goldberg, Mo’Nique, and Octavia Spencer, while Halle Berry is the lone black Best Actress winner.
Actresses Who Have Won Best Supporting Actress for Playing a Character with a New York Accent: 2Whether you love Lawrence's accent in American Hustle or it makes you want to stab yourself in the ears, there's no denying that the New York accent is a tricky one to pull off. Only two women have done it well enough to earn an Oscar: Marisa Tomei as the wise-cracking fianceè of the title character in My Cousin Vinny and Olympia Dukakis as Cher's mother in Moonstruck.
Our Prediction: Lupita Nyong'o Despite being evenly matched, we think that the combination of 12 Years a Slave being Nyong'o's film debut, as well as her first nomination will help swing the votes in her favor, as the Academy has proven that there's nothing it loves more than an impressive breakthrough performance. Plus, she deserves it, and we have to believe that there is some semblance of justice left in this world.
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Paramount
Usually, in the home stretch before a movie's release, the team is concerned with churning out trailers and subway posters and scheduling Conan appearances. But with only two months to go before Darren Aronofsky's Noah hits theaters, the director has opted to do something rather... unsettling: add a major character in the form of Nick Nolte.
The mastermind behind Black Swan tweeted the news on Tuesday, instilling in fans the same emotional discord embodied in the rattled photograph of the 72-year-old acting legend. We've seen the first trailers for Noah, and were none too enthused by what Paramount was setting up for us then. Does Aronofsky's last minute casting shakeup indicate a lack of confidence in his established project? Does he think that bringing on the 48 Hrs. star as Samyaza, a "watcher," will finally make this a Biblical epic worth seeing?
Right now, we don't know what to think about Noah. While the name Aronofsky screams imagination and reinvention, what we've seen thus far is just big, loud, clunky, ugly, and dull. Everything we would expect from a Renny Harlin Noah. Not what any of us had in mind for Aronofsky's vision, and probably not what he had in mind either. From the looks of it all, the terrifically ambitious project has gotten away from him, and he's just now scrapping together to turn it into something that works.
Sony Pictures via Everett Collection
But just how much good can casting Nick Nolte do? At what point in the process did Aronofsky identify his character Samyaza, an angel consumed by lust, as a vital part of the story? And more importantly, will this mean that Noah's release will be pushed past March 28?
We've seen a lot of distribution date juggling in the past year: The Great Gatsby was booted from winter 2012 to summer 2013, and G.I. Joe: Retaliation from summer 2012 to spring 2013, earning mixed and negative reviews, respectively. The Monuments Men, which was supposed to release at the end of last year, will be hitting theaters in February to yet unseen results.
In short, we're worried. Since Aronofsky announced Noah, we've held out for the next breathtaking, psychologically dense epic. But all signs point to disaster. Could Nolte's inclusion actually save this picture?
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Columbia Pictures
Chris Pratt is on a roll (and not into another pit a la his character Andy Dwyer on Parks and Recreation). According to The Wrap, Universal is eyeing Pratt for the leading male role in Jurassic World.
Assuming the actor does end up taking the role (and is able to figure out a filming schedule that would work with Parks and Recreation), he'll appear on screen alongside Bryce Dallas Howard, Nick Robinson, Ty Simpkins, and possibly the Life of Pi star Irrfan Khan who is also being sought after for the film. Josh Brolin had originally been in talks for the lead role, but a deal was never made.
If Pratt signs on for the Jurassic Park sequel, then the up-and-coming big-name star could add yet another film to his growing list. Pratt, who has already proved his worth on the NBC comedy alongside Amy Poehler, has been quickly building up his "serious" acting credentials in films like Moneyball and Zero Dark Thirty. Additionally, he is set to star as Peter Quill in Marvel's 2014 Guardians of the Galaxy, voice the lead role in The LEGO Movie, and appear in The Delivery Man and Spike Jonze's Her. From the looks of it, Pratt doesn't plan on being pinned as the loveably dopey Andy forever. (But we still want a Parks and Recreation and Jurassic Park mash-up, because that just seems like it would be magical.)
Jurassic World, which will be directed by Colin Trevorrow from the script he co-wrote with Derek Connolly, will hit theaters June 12, 2015.
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NBC Photo Bank via Getty
After weeks of conflict, bros all over the world can finally take comfort in the news that the Entourage film is set to enter production. According to writer and director Doug Ellin, the cast managed to hug it out and have all signed on to make the movie a reality. Jerry Ferrara, who played Turtle, also confirmed the news via Twitter last night. But while some people are rejoicing, and others are asking if it's suddenly 2007 again, we're left wondering what the plot of the film will entail. After watching Vincent Chase's (Adrian Grenier) rise and fall (and rise and fall) in Hollywood and his friends various successes and failures for eight seasons, are there any stories left for the Entourage film to tell?
It's undeniable that the show's quality dropped during its last few seasons, and it felt like the writers were recycling old plots in order to fill air time, and watching Vince miraculously escape any consequences for his actions over and over became a bit tedious. In honor of the film moving ahead despite the conflicts and criticisms, we've brainstormed 10 possible plots for the Entourage movie, so that they don't have to keep putting the characters in the same situations again and again.
1. Since the storylines on Entourage are often inspired by real-life events, the most likely plot for the film would center on Vince attempting to get the movie version of a successful television show that he starred in off the ground. However, tensions arise when he discovers that several of the cast members have decided to hold out on signing films contracts until they are paid the same amount of money as Vince, who became the show's breakout star. Things get even worse when Eric, who produced the show and is trying to produce the movie, calls the stars "greedy" to TMZ. Luckily for them, Turtle bonds with one of the actors, and together they help broker a deal while giving cheerful interviews to the media, exciting legions of frat-boys fans the world over.
2. In another storyline inspired by real-life events, Vince makes his Broadway debut in a play by David Mamet, alongside several well-respected theater actors. However, barely two months into the run, he gets sick and drops out the play immediately, leaving the cast in the lurch and surrounded by bad publicity. When his replacement gets better reviews than he did, Vince goes on the defensive, which only brings about more negative press, and he is forced to lay low for a while. He finally manages to turn his luck around when E convinces him to star in a PBS miniseries, which makes people respect him again. The chances of the Entourage writers using this plot depend on how frustrated they are with Jeremy Piven at the start of production.
3. Instead of continuing from where the show left off, the team behind Entourage decides to scrap a film about Vince and the guys and instead give fans what they really want: a feature-length version of Queens Boulevard. Since it was Vince's breakout role, the movie has been referenced on the show often, and the tagline "I am Queens Boulevard" has become one of the show's most famous lines. Alternatively, the writers are inspired by Hearts of Darkness and decide to turn the Entourage film into a mockumentary detailing the making of Queens Boulevard, and the nightmare of working with Billy Walsh, the most unstable director in Hollywood history.
4. In an attempt to lure in a new audience, Entourage goes highbrow with Turtle and Drama Are Dead, a Tom Stoppard-inspired film which outlines the major events of the series through the eyes of two of the more minor characters. Due to salary disputes, only Ferrara and Kevin Dillon actually appear in the film, but Vince, E, and Ari are all mentioned throughout. At the end, the two are ambushed by mafia hitmen after being unknowingly sold out by Vince after her couldn't pay back the money he owed for a drug deal.
5. The Entourage team decide to find comedy in a more domestic set-up, and the film follows E and Sloan in their attempts to raise their kids in their Westchester mansion. Between one of their kids being bullied at school, attempting to help another break into show business as a child actress, and Sloan's ongoing conflicts with the obnoxious neighborhood mothers who look down on her for not raising their kids vegan, they think things can't possibly get worse until Vince, who is unable to properly function without E around, moves to New York and into their pool house. Vince gets into hilarious hijinks while babysitting the kids during the day and throwing massive parties at night. However, in a touching happy ending, he finally learns to grow up and let go.
6. After the producers read on Twitter that the young people of today love when things get "meta", the film follows Vince's attempts to get a television show based on his life and his friends off the ground. Having never produced a show before, Vince must work with writers, casting directors and studio heads in order to get Hangers-On optioned. It eventually gets picked up by HBO and becomes a massive hit, but some of the people in his life are unhappy with their portrayal, causing Vince to have an internal battle against protecting their feelings and making good television. There are at least three references to the film Inception.
7. Deciding that they've told all of the stories they could about Vince, E, Drama and Turtle, the writers instead decide to focus the Entourage movie on the true star of the show, Lloyd. After winning a harassment lawsuit against his former boss, Ari Gold, Lloyd decides to open his own talent agency, and is immediately inundated with clients. He makes a promise to himself never to verbally abuse his employees, which helps the company's roster of top agents grow quickly. However, his unbelievable success is putting a strain on his relationship with his fiancé Tom, and Lloyd must balance work and love while trying to plan the most outrageous wedding Hollywood has ever seen. When they eventually make it down the aisle, Ari is his man - the two reconciled during the film's third act.
8. Hoping to rebuild their roster of celebrity chefs, Drama gets offered a cooking show by Food Network. His builds his culinary empire quickly, and suddenly finds himself richer and more famous than his brother. He hires Turtle to manage the business side of things, which upset E, who thinks Turtle isn't qualified enough. However, they must set find a way to band together when Drama insults Guy Fieri on a morning talk show, sparking the tackiest and worst-dressed feud in celebrity history. When Drama opens up a pop-up restaurant outside of Guy's Time Square eatery, Guy challenges him to a cook off of epic proportions, which will be televised after the hot dog eating contest on the Fourth of July. Paula Deen will attempt to recover from her recent scandals by making a cameo.
9. M. Night Shyamalan comes aboard the project as the new writer and director, hoping to boost his profile after a string of flops. The boys fly to a remote village in the countryside in order to start work on Vince's next film, only to discover that the cast and crew are being mysteriously killed, one by one. Mark Whalberg will take on the role of the gruff detective in charge on investigating the murders after his wife, a costume designer, dies tragically on set. Shyamalan's twist is that the scripts are possessed and killing people, and only Turtle makes it to the end. It gets uniformly negative reviews, but still inexplicably becomes a hit.
10. After years of their storylines being criticized as unrealistic, the Entourage film takes a more true-to-life approach in seeing where all of the characters have ended up. As a consequence of his constant stupid decisions, Vince has endured a second stint in rehab and a nasty divorce from his reporter wife, Sophia. He mostly makes ends meet through nightclub appearances and a string of mediocre films. E is also divorced, and has moved back to California to live with Vince and manage his mostly C-List clients. He and Sloan have joint custody of their child, but he still pines over her. By the end of the film, he is hopefully on his way to being a decent human being again. Drama's had a spike in popularity after a cable network decides to reboot Viking Quest. He's made a few guest appearances on the show, but mostly makes his living by appearing at fan conventions. Turtle owns a medical marijuana dispensary. Ari retired for good after all of his anger led to a minor heart attack, but his presence at home drives his wife crazy.
Or something like that.
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Sarah Connolly and pianist Steven Osborne were to toast of the classical music world on Tuesday (14May13) after picking up top prizes at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards in Britain. Mezzo-soprano Connolly was named the winner of the Silver Lyre trophy for Best Solo Singer, while Osborne landed the award for Best Instrumentalist.
Kirill Karabits, the principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, won the Conducting Award. Other winners included composers Gerald Barry and Rebecca Saunders and the Birmingham Opera Company's world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Mittwoch aus Licht (Wednesday from Light).

The trailers for Hope Springs might lead you to believe it's a romantic comedy about a couple trying to jumpstart their sexless marriage but it causes more empathetic cringing than chuckles. Audiences will be drawn to Hope Springs by its stars Meryl Streep Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell and Streep's track record of pleasing summer movies like Julie &amp; Julia and Mamma Mia! that offer a respite from the blockbusters flooding theaters. Despite what its marketing might have you believe Hope Springs isn't a rom-com. The film is a disarming mixture of deeply intimate confessions by a married couple in the sanctuary of a therapist's office awkwardly honest attempts by that couple to physically reconnect and incredibly sappy scenes underscored by intrusive music. Boldly addressing female desire especially in older women it's hard not to give the movie extra credit for what writer Vanessa Taylor's script is trying to convey and its rarity in mainstream film. The ebb and flow of intimacy and desire in a long-term relationship is what drives Hope Springs and while there are plenty contrived moments and unresolved issues it is frankly surprising and surprisingly frank. It's a summer release from a major studio with high caliber stars aimed squarely at the generally underserved 50+ audience addressing the even more taboo topic of that audience's sex life.
Streep plays Kay a suburban wife who's deeply unsatisfied emotionally and sexually by her marriage to Arnold. Arnold who is played by Tommy Lee Jones as his craggiest sleeps in a separate bedroom now that their kids have left the nest; he's like a stone cold robot emotionally and physically and Kay tiptoes around trying to make him happy even as he ignores her every gesture. One of the most striking scenes in the movie is at the very beginning when Kay primps and fusses over her modest sleepwear in the hopes of seducing her husband. Streep makes it obvious that this isn't an easy thing for Kay; it takes all her guts to try and wordlessly suggest sex to her husband and when she's shot down it hurts to watch. This isn't a one time disconnect between their libidos; this is an ongoing problem that leaves Kay feeling insecure and undesirable.
After a foray into the self-help section of her bookstore Kay finds a therapist who holds week-long intensive couples' therapy sessions in Good Hope Springs ME and in a seemingly unprecedented moment of decisiveness she books a trip for the couple. Arnold of course is having none of it but he eventually comes along for the ride. That doesn't mean he's up for answering any of Dr. Feld's questions though. To be fair Dr. Feld (Carell) is asking the couple deeply intimate questions so if Arnold is comfortable foisting his amorous wife off with the excuse he had pork for lunch it's not so far-fetched to believe he'd be angry when Feld asks him about his fantasy life or masturbation habits.
Although Arnold gets a pass on some of his issues Kay is forthright about why and how she's dissatisfied. When Dr. Feld asks her if she masturbates she says she doesn't because it makes her too sad. Kay offers similar revelations; she's willing to bare it all to revive her marriage while Arnold thinks the fact that they're married at all means they must be happy. Carell's Dr. Feld is soothing and kind (even a bit bland) but it's always a pleasure to see him play it straight.
It's subversive for a mega-watt star to play a character that talks about how sexually unsatisfied she is and how unsexy she feels with the man she loves most in the world. The added taboo of Kay and Arnold's age adds that much more to the conversation. Kay and Arnold's attempts at intimacy are emotionally raw and hard to watch. Even when things get funny they're mostly awkward funny not ha-ha funny.
The rest of the movie is a little uneven wrapped up tightly and happily by the end. Their time spent soul-searching alone is a little cheesy especially when Kay ends up in a local bar where she gets a little dizzy on white wine while dishing about her problems to the bartender (Elisabeth Shue). Somewhere along the line what probably started out as a character study ended up as a wobbly drama that pushes some boundaries but eventually lets everyone off the emotional hook in favor of a smoothed-over happy ending. Still its disarming moments and performances almost balance it out. Although its target audience might be dismayed to find it's not as light-hearted as it would seem Hope Springs offers up the opportunity for discussion about sexuality and aging at a time when books and films like 50 Shades of Grey and Magic Mike are perking up similar conversations. In the end that's a good thing.

A decade-long gap between sequels could leave a franchise stale but in the case of Men in Black 3 it's the launch pad for an unexpectedly great blockbuster. The kooky antics of Agent J (Will Smith) and Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) don't stray far from their 1997 and 2002 adventures but without a bombardment of follow-ups to keep the series in mind the wonderfully weird sensibilities of Men in Black feel fresh Smith's natural charisma once again on full display. Barry Sonnenfeld returns for the threequel another space alien romp with a time travel twist — which turns out to be Pandora's Box for the director's deranged imagination.
As time passed in the real world so did it for the timeline in the world of Men in Black. Picking up ten years after MIB 2 J and K are continuing to protect the Earth from alien threats and enforce the law on those who live incognito. While dealing with their own personal issues — K is at his all-time crabbiest for seemingly no reason — the suited duo encounter an old enemy Boris the Animal (Jemaine Clement) a prickly assassin seeking revenge on K who blew his arm off back in the '60s. Their street fight is more of a warning; Boris' real plan is to head back in time to save his arm and kill off K. He's successful prompting J to take his own leap through the time-space continuum — and team up with a younger K (Josh Brolin) to put an end to Boris plans for world domination.
Men in Black 3 is the Will Smith show. Splitting his time between the brick personalities of Jones and Brolin's K Smith struts his stuff with all the fast-talking comedic style that made him a star in yesteryears. In present day he's still the laid back normal guy in a world of oddities — J raises an eyebrow as new head honcho O (Emma Thompson) delivers a eulogy in a screeching alien tongue but coming up with real world explanations for flying saucer crashes comes a little easier. But back in 1969 he's an even bigger fish out water. Surprisingly director Barry Sonnenfeld and writer Etan Cohen dabble in the inherent issues that would spring up if a black gentlemen decked out in a slick suit paraded around New York in the late '60s. A star of Smith's caliber may stray away from that type of racy humor but the hook of Men in Black 3 is the actor's readiness for anything. He turns J's jokey anachronisms into genuine laughs and doesn't mind letting the special effect artists stretch him into an unrecognizable Twizzler for the movie's epic time jump sequence.
Unlike other summer blockbusters Men in Black 3 is light on the action Sonnenfeld utilizing his effects budget and dazzling creature work (by the legendary Rick Baker) to push the comedy forward. J's fight with an oversized extraterrestrial fish won't keep you on the edge of your seat but his slapstick escape and the marine animal's eventual demise are genuinely amusing. Sonnenfeld carries over the twisted sensibilities he displayed in small screen work like Pushing Daisies favoring bizarre banter and elaborating on the kookiness of the alien underworld than battle scenes. MIB3's chase scene is passable but the movie in its prime when Smith is sparring with Brolin and newcomer Michael Stuhlbarg who steals the show as a being capable of seeing the future. His twitchy character keeps Smith and the audience on their toes.
Men in Black 3 digs up nostalgia I wasn't aware I had. Smith's the golden boy of summer and even with modern ingenuity keeping it fresh — Sonnenfeld uses the mandatory 3D to full and fun effect — there's an element to the film that feels plucked from another era. The movie is economical and slight with plenty of lapses in logic that will provoke head scratching on the walk out of the theater but it's also perfectly executed. After ten years of cinematic neutralizing the folks behind Men in Black haven't forgotten what made the first movie work so well. After al these years Smith continues to make the goofy plot wild spectacle and crazed alien antics look good.
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